All language subtitles for Cocaine Cowboys The Kings of Miami - 01x01 - Willy & Sal.NF.WEBRip.DDP5.1.x264-BIGDOC+DELAYED+ION10.English.HI.C.orig.Addic7ed.com
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[suspenseful music plays]
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[reporter] The great Seahawk racing team.
How do you look forward to the race today?
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00:00:20,353 --> 00:00:23,314
- We'll see when we get out there.
- Don't believe anything he says.
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Who just came into this picture here
is the one and only Sal Magluta,
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00:00:26,901 --> 00:00:30,071
the man who is the driving force
behind the Seahawk race team.
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The way it's going, you may end up
with a third national championship
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somewhere along the way.
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Well, I'll take it.
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Why not?
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Three in a row's not too bad.
They come in threes.
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Willy Falcon, driver of Seahawk.
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Willy Falcon looks confident to me today.
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- I wish him the best of luck.
- Thank you.
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[imperceptible]
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[announcer] There's the yellow flag
and the flare. They're now on the course.
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Right off the bat, look at these two cats
going at it. A drag race, if you will.
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Willy Falcon makes a bid for the lead
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00:01:05,982 --> 00:01:07,025
over Sal Magluta.
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- [engine whines]
- Uh-oh! Sal Magluta spins out!
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You're gonna see
the number 20, Willy Falcon,
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go by and now he has moved up.
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Whoa! And we're starting to fly.
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Jesse James has taken over the lead.
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Willy Falcon...
He's finding some extra power.
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Whoa! Seahawk has taken over the lead.
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A little happiness
on the part of the navigator
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as he kinda jumps up and down.
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[commentator] He knows.
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[announcer laughs]
They're waving out there.
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Look at the excitement in that crew now.
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What a thrill for this crew to come here
as the second boat of the Seahawk team.
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[commentator] Look who's excited,
their teammates who broke early.
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Look at Sal Magluta do a dance.
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[announcer] This team will be
celebrating for three weeks, I think.
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[reporter] Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta,
Los Muchachos, "the boys,"
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the offshore powerboat champions
indicted for trafficking
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more than 75 tons of cocaine
worth an estimated two billion dollars.
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Making it what federal authorities say
was the largest drug case in history.
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Witness assassinations,
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unprecedented corruption
of the American justice system.
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Few people in South Florida
have been untouched
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by the saga
of Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta
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that has taken
these Cuban exiles from dropouts
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to the epitome
of the Cocaine Cowboys of the 1980s.
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[rap music playing]
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♪ I've been processed, packaged
Delivered in bricks ♪
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♪ I've been cut, cooked
Chopped and whipped ♪
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♪ I've been called all types of names ♪
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♪ Like perico, yeyo
Snow, blow, and cane ♪
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♪ I'm the reason that the Cubans
Took over Miami ♪
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♪ I'm the reason they extorted Escobar
By extraditing his family ♪
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♪ I'm protected by killers
I'm handled by dealers ♪
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♪ Well-connected with greed
I'm all white but I produce green ♪
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♪ They'll kick in your door
Like Bruce Lee ♪
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♪ Just to have
An intimate love affair with me ♪
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♪ I corrupt governments
Yeah, that's me ♪
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♪ I built the streets, listen closely ♪
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♪ Now, it's cool to be a snitch
It's cool to go to jail ♪
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♪ It's cool to get caught
Damn, where did I fail? ♪
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♪ When I was in the streets heavy
They had codes and rules ♪
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♪ Now it's just steady foes and fools ♪
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♪ That's why they get found stiff
Like frozen food ♪
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♪ Take a sniff and let me remind you
Whoo! ♪
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♪ Sniff, co-, snort, -caine ♪
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♪ Deal, cow-, extort, -boys ♪
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♪ Will, will, kill, kill ♪
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♪ For the love of the blood sport ♪
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♪ They'll do 25 to life ♪
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♪ For the love of the blood sport ♪
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[mellow Cuban guitar music plays]
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[woman] I was born in New York City.
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My parents are Cuban.
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And in 1971, we moved to Miami.
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[reporter] This is Southwest 8th Street
or as the Cubans call it,
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8th Street of the Southwest.
Little Havana's main street.
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The Tamiami Trail
now symbolizes an economic miracle
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brought about by Miami's Cuban refugees.
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[Bonachea] I was 15 and a half.
It was summer, and I needed a job.
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My mom said, "Next to Publix
is a bakery, a Jewish-Cuban bakery
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with the rye bread, the pumpernickel."
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And then they had guayabas,
and all that kinda stuff.
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So I said, "Okay." I went over there.
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I met Sal's mom and dad, and uncles.
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They all owned the bakery.
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The next day, I met Sal.
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I just didn't like him. I thought,
"Who is this guy with attitude here?"
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He was supposed to be working in the back.
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But he would set up a stool
where I worked in the counter
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and he'd sit there and watch
because I wore this little pink uniform.
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It was really short. He would sit there
and wait for me to bend over.
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[laughs]
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He spent three weeks
trying to get my phone number.
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I said, "I'll give you
one number per week."
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I gave him one number
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until we went down the line
to the seven numbers,
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then he got my phone number.
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Most of the time we went out,
he didn't have a penny to his name.
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He says, "One day I'm gonna have
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all the money in the world.
I'll buy any car I want."
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I was like, "Great."
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Sal was always up to no good.
He was mischievous.
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He had just gotten
kicked out of Miami High School.
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So he ended up in my high school.
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And I would sit and do his homework,
so he wouldn't get in trouble.
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His mother and father
don't speak any English.
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And he would take his report card home
and his mother would say,
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"What does that F stand for?"
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"That F stands for Felicidad."
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Felicidad means "happy."
He got a good grade.
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And they believed it all these years,
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all those F's,
that Sal was doing great in school.
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Because he was getting
Felicidad, Felicidad, Felicidad. [laughs]
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When he wasn't even attending class.
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He would date
at least ten girls at the same time
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before I found out.
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And he got one of the girls pregnant.
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[sad guitar music playing]
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I wouldn't date him anymore after that.
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[man] Gloria and Manolo Magluta
were my parents' best friends.
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To me, they were like my parents.
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So Sal was like my cousin.
Actually, like my brother.
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Sal's parents, they owned
a bakery shop and they worked very hard,
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extremely hard-working people.
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They were in church
two, three times a week.
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Here were these amazing parents,
but they weren't there all day long.
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I look back now,
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and that probably started
to become the formation
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of what happened in Sal's life.
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[Bonachea] Every night, Sal would call me.
We would chat and he'd read me the Bible.
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Sal's main concern, always,
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was whether he was going
to go to heaven or not.
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He said to me one time that,
if you repent,
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no matter what bad deeds you do,
that you will go to heaven.
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So I think in his mind,
it's like, "I can do anything I want
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as long as later I repent,
and I feel bad for what I did,
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and then God will forgive me
and I will go to heaven."
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I think that things
started to go wrong for Sal.
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He was hanging around the wrong crowd.
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[Bonachea] Sal's best friend
during that time was Willy Falcon.
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Willy was intimidating,
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where Sal wasn't.
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Sal was the peacemaker.
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Willy was more of the brawler.
Like, you know, "I'm in your face."
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He had this expression
of going like this all the time,
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"What you gonna do about it?"
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At that time, I had no idea
that they were drug dealers.
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We all shared one thing.
We were poor and didn't wanna stay poor.
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[smooth Latin jazz playing]
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Willy and Sal started off as small-time,
little pot pushers out of Miami High.
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They sorta struggled, don't do well,
end up being high school dropouts.
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[man] My sister-in-law's boyfriend
introduced me to Willy.
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"Tony, why don't you give
these guys a try?"
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At that time,
Willy was selling dime bags with Sal.
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Willy was a jovial guy, very nice.
Uh, not too smart.
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I knew his mother
and his father and his brother, Taby.
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Willy and Salvador were always together.
They were like family.
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But really, Willy didn't know
what the hell was going on.
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How much money they had,
he didn't know. That was all Sal.
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Willy was always kept in the dark.
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Willy was, for all intents
and purposes, Sal's dummy.
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I'd fly the marijuana from Colombia
and I was selling it to them.
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But then I stopped.
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It's not enough money.
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[Valdes] There was so many people
in the marijuana business,
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because it took
so many people to handle one load.
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Whereas in the cocaine,
you can bring in 800, 1000 kilo.
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Literally, I could handle that
with four people.
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[DeFede] They moved
from marijuana to cocaine.
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I wouldn't have said
they were drug dealers.
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They were buying ounces
on the streets and reselling it.
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Sal was just a regular young guy
doing a little hustle on the side.
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You know, if anybody,
I was a drug dealer, right?
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I'm the one bringing in 800 kilos a month.
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I think that Sal put two and two together.
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My father started telling
how I was always traveling.
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and that I was putting
a banana company together in Colombia.
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Sal just said, "Impossible.
I mean, Jorge is 21 years old,
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he's making a million dollars a month.
He ain't selling bananas."
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[funky music playing]
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"Let me talk to your son.
Tell him to give me a meeting."
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I finally gave him a meeting.
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I had about 15 minutes to meet with him.
I was in a rush. He was at my office.
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He said, "Give me a chance. I think
I can sell some coke here and there."
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I'm like, "Well,
how much money do you have?"
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And he's like,
"I think ten or 20 thousand dollars."
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I literally almost peed in my pants.
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At that time, it was $42,000,
in Miami, wholesale for a kilo of cocaine.
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I didn't wanna insult him
because I've always loved Sal, even today.
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I'm like, "All right, let me see
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if the opportunity arises because now,
we really are committed somewhere else."
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My handsome Latin friends,
the brothers Falcon, Gus and Willy.
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[man] In about 1978,
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my older sister, Gina,
she started dating Taby, Gustavo Falcon.
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00:11:09,919 --> 00:11:13,214
As soon as she turned 18,
my sister and Taby got married.
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Through Taby,
I met his older brother Willy Falcon.
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And through Willy Falcon,
I met his best friend, Sal Magluta.
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I grew up in Little Havana
when we came from Cuba.
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It was like the Cuban ghetto.
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[mellow Latin jazz playing]
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[reporter] Among Latins in South Florida,
particularly Cubans,
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there is a lingual reference
to different aspects of community life.
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Police are called la jara.
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00:11:52,378 --> 00:11:56,006
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
is la federica.
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And when talking about a gun,
Latins say, la fuca.
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[Rosello] My parents didn't know English.
So it was hard for us growing up.
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My dad had two jobs.
He would leave at seven in the morning
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00:12:08,102 --> 00:12:09,854
and get back at ten o'clock at night.
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I saw my dad working so hard.
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That's not what I wanted to do
when I was a kid growing up.
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00:12:15,526 --> 00:12:17,403
I didn't wanna have two jobs.
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00:12:17,987 --> 00:12:21,532
But now, I was Willy
and Taby Falcon's little brother.
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00:12:21,615 --> 00:12:24,368
I hung out with Taby,
like, on a daily basis.
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00:12:24,952 --> 00:12:28,914
After school, I would go to their house.
Willy's friends would come by.
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00:12:28,998 --> 00:12:32,251
I would wash their cars
and get paid 20 bucks.
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00:12:32,334 --> 00:12:35,379
Expensive Corvettes, Cadillacs, Porsches.
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00:12:36,380 --> 00:12:40,426
So on a Saturday and Sunday,
I would make like $200 in two days.
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00:12:40,509 --> 00:12:43,429
My dad would make
$200 probably in three weeks.
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00:12:43,512 --> 00:12:46,265
So, I'm like,
"Oh, this is good," you know?
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00:12:46,348 --> 00:12:49,101
I mean, whatever they're doing,
it's paying off.
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A lot of Willy's friends,
they would taunt me, you know?
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00:12:53,230 --> 00:12:56,734
They would go in and go,
"Pegy, here look what I got in here."
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They opened the shoe box
and it was all money,
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and I'm, like, "Damn." You know?
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Right then and there,
I knew what they were doing.
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00:13:03,908 --> 00:13:05,493
I knew it was drugs.
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00:13:06,076 --> 00:13:08,078
[moody rock music playing]
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00:13:13,125 --> 00:13:16,796
The city of Miami in 1978 and 1979,
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00:13:16,879 --> 00:13:20,341
a number of narcotics detectives
at that time had obtained permission
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from a state court judge to conduct
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00:13:22,718 --> 00:13:26,639
a wiretap investigation
involving a number of drug traffickers.
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00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:31,060
This operation was coined
Operation Video Canary.
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00:13:31,727 --> 00:13:34,563
[reporter] The state attorney's office
got its first lead last August
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when an informant led
undercover agents to the 5th floor
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of the Capital Bank Building.
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[Valdes] Sal was dealing
with this gentleman that had a office.
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And the office was all wired.
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00:13:47,034 --> 00:13:48,786
That operation, Video Canary,
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was the first time
that they came into the radar.
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00:13:52,248 --> 00:13:56,544
All they know about Sal and Willy is
that they were selling ounces or a kilo.
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It wasn't no big amounts of anything.
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00:13:58,796 --> 00:14:02,258
That investigation
was not centered on Falcon and Magluta.
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00:14:02,341 --> 00:14:05,261
[reporter] More than 120 suspects
were expected to be brought in,
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00:14:05,344 --> 00:14:07,263
43 of whom are from Dade County.
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00:14:07,805 --> 00:14:10,432
[Clark] Falcon and Magluta
were among those arrested
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00:14:10,516 --> 00:14:13,435
and charged in the state system
in Miami, Florida
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00:14:13,519 --> 00:14:15,646
with state drug trafficking charges.
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[Valdes] When they got busted, I don't
believe the government had any idea
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what Sal and Willy were all about.
They're clueless what's going on in Miami.
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[Clark] They were given
a probationary sentence of five years,
250
00:14:28,325 --> 00:14:31,245
a special condition
of which they serve 14 months.
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00:14:31,829 --> 00:14:33,497
What it was, it was like a joke.
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00:14:33,581 --> 00:14:36,417
It was like, "This is nothing.
This is kiddy play."
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00:14:36,917 --> 00:14:39,128
[DeFede] Willy and Sal got out on bail.
254
00:14:39,211 --> 00:14:41,547
But what their attorneys
were also able to do,
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00:14:41,630 --> 00:14:44,049
was to keep the case on appeal for years.
256
00:14:44,925 --> 00:14:48,304
The likelihood of them
ever prevailing was nil.
257
00:14:48,387 --> 00:14:50,306
However, this did buy them time.
258
00:14:51,432 --> 00:14:55,644
And they continued to traffic in drugs
pretty much unabated throughout the 1980s.
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00:14:56,353 --> 00:14:59,023
[DeFede] They were still out
on the streets, selling cocaine,
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and this began a real theme for them.
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00:15:01,233 --> 00:15:05,237
That they were almost untouchable.
Like they were walking between raindrops.
262
00:15:05,321 --> 00:15:07,573
And that's really
the story of Willy and Sal.
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00:15:09,783 --> 00:15:14,121
At that time, a load had come in
and we were down to 30 kilos.
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00:15:14,204 --> 00:15:17,082
All of a sudden, we had
these 30 kilos I had to get rid of
265
00:15:17,166 --> 00:15:20,252
because the following day,
I'm leaving for Europe.
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00:15:20,336 --> 00:15:24,089
Sal comes over with Willy
and I said, "You want a chance?"
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And he's like, "Yeah, thanks."
I said, "Okay, here it is, 30 kilos."
268
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Sal did not wanna do it.
269
00:15:30,554 --> 00:15:33,474
Sal didn't think
they could sell 30 kilos of cocaine.
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00:15:33,557 --> 00:15:37,353
He's like, "Oh, my God! No, too much."
But Willy jumped up and he's like,
271
00:15:37,436 --> 00:15:38,354
"That's nothing."
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00:15:38,437 --> 00:15:40,981
"Trust me. Don't worry.
It's Miami, we'll figure it out."
273
00:15:41,065 --> 00:15:42,524
And Sal looked at him like...
274
00:15:42,608 --> 00:15:46,070
[chuckles] "You've probably been
snorting a bit too much."
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00:15:46,153 --> 00:15:48,364
Sal's got more reservation
about what he can do,
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00:15:48,447 --> 00:15:51,367
possibly because Willy knew
more people than he did.
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00:15:51,450 --> 00:15:53,577
Willy was just the face.
278
00:15:55,079 --> 00:15:56,330
He loved to brag.
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00:15:56,413 --> 00:15:59,166
Not a lot of brains,
but everybody loved Willy, right?
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00:16:01,293 --> 00:16:05,089
Thirty days later the guy came back.
They had $1.2 million for him
281
00:16:05,172 --> 00:16:07,758
in return for the 30 kilos
that he had sold them.
282
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They came with all the money.
And I was very shocked.
283
00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:13,180
"Hey, when can we have some more?"
284
00:16:13,263 --> 00:16:15,724
[DeFede] There was never
any discussion after that
285
00:16:15,808 --> 00:16:17,810
as to whether they could actually handle
286
00:16:17,893 --> 00:16:20,020
the amount the providers
could give to them.
287
00:16:20,104 --> 00:16:21,814
[Valdes] Sal got confidence quickly.
288
00:16:21,897 --> 00:16:25,067
When you try to do something
the first time, you don't think you can.
289
00:16:25,150 --> 00:16:27,444
Once you do it,
you're like, "That was not hard."
290
00:16:28,153 --> 00:16:31,240
They went from selling grams,
to selling 30 kilos.
291
00:16:32,199 --> 00:16:36,578
How did these people go from party boy,
to becoming a major drug lord,
292
00:16:36,662 --> 00:16:38,539
making a million dollars a month?
293
00:16:38,622 --> 00:16:39,622
Very quickly.
294
00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:44,003
Little did we begin to see
that demand would explode and it was fast.
295
00:16:44,086 --> 00:16:47,381
[DeFede] The demand was insatiable.
It was like an eruption.
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[reporter] Americans consume
more than 50 tons of cocaine every year,
297
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spending nearly
$40 billion for the illicit drug.
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[Valdes] It started in California
299
00:16:55,764 --> 00:16:58,100
where you got movie stars,
celebrities, singers.
300
00:16:58,183 --> 00:17:01,437
New York City where you have nightclubs,
where you have Wall Street.
301
00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:02,813
What was Miami?
302
00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:08,444
There was no night life. It was two, three
little nightclubs of high school kids.
303
00:17:08,527 --> 00:17:10,070
South Beach did not exist.
304
00:17:10,154 --> 00:17:13,574
To imagine selling
30 kilos in Miami, it's crazy.
305
00:17:13,657 --> 00:17:15,701
Sal comes into the picture of Miami.
306
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He starts bringing
all his young friends around
307
00:17:18,162 --> 00:17:20,456
to go and party and to show off.
308
00:17:20,539 --> 00:17:23,375
Sal and Willy developed
the Miami cocaine market.
309
00:17:24,585 --> 00:17:28,088
They got a huge reputation very quick.
310
00:17:33,093 --> 00:17:37,806
Success in any business venture involves
elements of hard work as well as luck.
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00:17:37,890 --> 00:17:40,809
Falcon and Magluta benefited from luck
312
00:17:40,893 --> 00:17:44,146
and the misfortune of one
of their colleagues, Jorge Valdes.
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00:17:44,813 --> 00:17:49,777
He was arrested and he received
a sentence of between five and ten years.
314
00:17:50,611 --> 00:17:53,322
But then he had to turn
his business over to somebody.
315
00:17:53,822 --> 00:17:57,076
When I got convicted,
they let me out on bail. Logically,
316
00:17:57,785 --> 00:18:01,163
I didn't have anybody else
to handle operation that I thought
317
00:18:01,747 --> 00:18:04,792
could handle the level
of what I was doing.
318
00:18:04,875 --> 00:18:08,087
So I got together with Sal
and I told him, I said,
319
00:18:08,170 --> 00:18:10,005
"Here's my buyers in California."
320
00:18:10,089 --> 00:18:13,592
And I introduced him to
my connection in the Medellin cartel.
321
00:18:13,675 --> 00:18:17,596
[Clark] This was the break that launched
Falcon and Magluta into the big time,
322
00:18:17,679 --> 00:18:22,059
now that they had Valdes' exclusive
contact with the Medellin cartel.
323
00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:27,314
Now they had unlimited access
to large quantities of cocaine
324
00:18:27,397 --> 00:18:31,151
that the Colombian cartel needed
to have transported successfully
325
00:18:31,235 --> 00:18:32,528
into the United States.
326
00:18:32,611 --> 00:18:37,783
Imagine if they thought selling 30 kilos
was something crazy out of this world.
327
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Suddenly now,
they're going to be running an empire.
328
00:18:42,913 --> 00:18:45,666
Man, next week, there's 800 kilos coming.
329
00:18:45,749 --> 00:18:48,085
All they have to do
is find a pilot with a plane.
330
00:18:48,168 --> 00:18:50,170
[engine starts]
331
00:18:53,173 --> 00:18:55,175
[lively salsa music playing]
332
00:18:58,303 --> 00:19:01,056
[man] I had a part-time job doing banners
333
00:19:02,015 --> 00:19:03,725
up and down Miami Beach.
334
00:19:05,060 --> 00:19:07,604
And that paid $3 an hour.
335
00:19:10,357 --> 00:19:14,319
I went to Miami High with Willy and Sal.
We just became friends.
336
00:19:15,154 --> 00:19:17,156
Years later, we started talking.
337
00:19:17,239 --> 00:19:20,659
We discussed, what kind of plane
would you use for smuggling?
338
00:19:20,742 --> 00:19:23,453
I started doing some research
339
00:19:23,537 --> 00:19:26,540
as to what kind of plane,
what kind of equipment.
340
00:19:26,623 --> 00:19:31,170
I said, "Look, this is what you need
and this is how much it's gonna cost."
341
00:19:31,253 --> 00:19:32,754
And he says, "Okay, well,
342
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let's do it."
343
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[suspenseful music plays]
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Everything was prepared,
the Colombians were ready,
345
00:19:40,846 --> 00:19:43,390
'cause they need a few days
to clear the runways
346
00:19:43,473 --> 00:19:45,559
between the army
and the leftist guerrillas
347
00:19:45,642 --> 00:19:48,896
and bring the merchandise
to where it's supposed to be.
348
00:19:50,939 --> 00:19:53,317
Opa Locka Airport was full of smugglers.
349
00:19:53,859 --> 00:19:55,736
[Posada] Everybody there was working.
350
00:19:55,819 --> 00:19:58,780
[Linero] Cuban smugglers walking around,
all were wearing cowboy boots.
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00:19:58,864 --> 00:20:01,909
All were wearing beepers.
All were wearing Rolex.
352
00:20:01,992 --> 00:20:03,452
All were wearing cowboy hats.
353
00:20:03,535 --> 00:20:07,247
And I think that's where
the "cocaine cowboys" came to be known as.
354
00:20:07,331 --> 00:20:08,540
It was a uniform.
355
00:20:09,583 --> 00:20:11,752
Going to Colombia,
it was a ten-hour flight.
356
00:20:11,835 --> 00:20:16,048
So we had about 400 gallons
of fuel in about eight tanks.
357
00:20:16,131 --> 00:20:17,799
I'm in a flying bomb.
358
00:20:18,634 --> 00:20:23,805
In Colombia, it is illegal to fly
a private airplane after five o'clock.
359
00:20:25,057 --> 00:20:30,395
So, basically, everybody knows that
this plane that's flying at six o'clock
360
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is a smuggler plane.
361
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,693
You look down,
everybody is giving you signals.
362
00:20:36,777 --> 00:20:38,195
They're burning tires.
363
00:20:39,071 --> 00:20:42,157
So you have to precisely be
364
00:20:42,241 --> 00:20:45,244
where you need to be, or otherwise,
365
00:20:45,327 --> 00:20:46,411
you're gonna die.
366
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I made my approach
367
00:20:49,164 --> 00:20:52,376
and I'm pretty confident
that I got the runway,
368
00:20:52,459 --> 00:20:54,211
which is not really a runway.
369
00:20:54,294 --> 00:20:56,672
So, I landed,
370
00:20:56,755 --> 00:21:01,343
get out, people start putting grass
on top of the airplane and so on.
371
00:21:03,637 --> 00:21:06,098
In the morning, we get to the plane,
372
00:21:06,181 --> 00:21:08,642
and here comes these three or four Jeeps
373
00:21:09,309 --> 00:21:14,731
full of duffel bags, each carrying
about 30 to 40 kilos of cocaine.
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00:21:16,566 --> 00:21:18,485
Plane is loaded, ready to go.
375
00:21:19,111 --> 00:21:24,199
Now, we're almost 1,500 pounds over
the gross weight of the airplane.
376
00:21:24,283 --> 00:21:26,660
"Are you out of your mind?
This could not happen."
377
00:21:26,743 --> 00:21:29,288
Well, it's happening, okay?
378
00:21:32,291 --> 00:21:36,211
We were doing lines right on the top of
the dashboard where the instruments are.
379
00:21:36,295 --> 00:21:39,256
Some beautiful,
big, thick lines of cocaine.
380
00:21:39,339 --> 00:21:43,385
People fly high, you know?
I can't understand that.
381
00:21:43,927 --> 00:21:47,764
[Linero] You need to be very aware
of what's going on in the plane.
382
00:21:47,848 --> 00:21:53,437
As I'm high and paranoid, I could feel
a little change on the engine in my ass.
383
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If there was a vibration,
I could look at the gauges
384
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,192
and see that this is okay
and that's fine here.
385
00:22:00,193 --> 00:22:02,696
I think that being high helped a lot.
386
00:22:02,779 --> 00:22:04,489
He must have been out of his mind.
387
00:22:06,366 --> 00:22:10,912
There was a time that I was making
about one or two trips a month.
388
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We're talking about 800 keys a month.
389
00:22:13,707 --> 00:22:17,502
I was basically making
around 200 grand per trip.
390
00:22:18,253 --> 00:22:20,672
Willy, he wanted me to go every week
391
00:22:20,756 --> 00:22:26,386
but it's like, how many times can you go
into bullfighting and not get hurt?
392
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[Rosello] They used to bring
the coke from Colombia to Freeport.
393
00:22:30,849 --> 00:22:34,394
From Freeport, they would
bring the coke to Miami in speedboats.
394
00:22:40,067 --> 00:22:42,235
The guy on the boat was Juan Barroso,
395
00:22:42,319 --> 00:22:45,197
that used to race with Seahawk.
He used to bring in the coke.
396
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Okay, now we have the smallest navigator
in offshore racing,
397
00:22:48,408 --> 00:22:50,452
and it's Johnny "Recut." Here we go.
398
00:22:50,952 --> 00:22:54,039
My name is Juan Barroso, right?
They call me "Recut."
399
00:22:54,122 --> 00:22:55,123
[laughs]
400
00:22:55,207 --> 00:22:58,919
Like if he was recut, you know,
like if they cut him. [laughs]
401
00:23:00,712 --> 00:23:03,757
[Linero] One time when he got in,
Willy got a couple of phone books
402
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,386
and put him on his seat with duct tape
and he was screaming and yelling.
403
00:23:07,469 --> 00:23:09,012
And we were all laughing.
404
00:23:09,096 --> 00:23:11,723
As you can see, we standing up.
405
00:23:11,807 --> 00:23:17,062
You know, we had to make a special booster
for him, but he's learning very little.
406
00:23:17,145 --> 00:23:20,982
He's learning by the time
that he's got a big mouth.
407
00:23:21,608 --> 00:23:24,653
Willy and me, we used to know
each other from high school.
408
00:23:25,237 --> 00:23:27,989
[Rosello] Willy says,
"You have Recut in the boat,
409
00:23:28,073 --> 00:23:29,658
he probably weighs 80 pounds.
410
00:23:29,741 --> 00:23:30,741
He's this short.
411
00:23:30,784 --> 00:23:34,579
You won't get drag from the wind,
so you'd get a little advantage."
412
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,166
We took our boat down to Nassau,
and we took an aerodynamic.
413
00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:41,670
And the boat was running fast,
but we needed a shorter navigator
414
00:23:41,753 --> 00:23:45,215
so the air would pass through,
so we had to get a shorter person.
415
00:23:45,298 --> 00:23:46,216
How old are you?
416
00:23:46,299 --> 00:23:48,385
- Eleven.
- How old are you?
417
00:23:48,468 --> 00:23:50,429
- Twenty-nine.
- He's bigger than you?
418
00:23:50,512 --> 00:23:51,847
He's a little bigger.
419
00:23:51,930 --> 00:23:52,806
[all laugh]
420
00:23:52,889 --> 00:23:55,058
- You're full of shit.
- [all laugh]
421
00:23:55,142 --> 00:23:57,853
There was a guy
that worked for him, Justo Jay.
422
00:23:57,936 --> 00:24:01,731
We started talking and he tell me,
"Hey, Willy wants to meet with you."
423
00:24:01,815 --> 00:24:06,653
Willy told me, "We got some stuff
that's coming through Freeport, Bahamas."
424
00:24:06,736 --> 00:24:08,447
"Can you do it for me?" "Yeah."
425
00:24:09,072 --> 00:24:11,658
It was the first load
I did with cocaine with him.
426
00:24:11,741 --> 00:24:14,244
I made like 250 grand.
427
00:24:14,327 --> 00:24:15,704
In one night.
428
00:24:17,664 --> 00:24:21,251
I would go down to Freeport.
You go across the island.
429
00:24:22,794 --> 00:24:25,922
Then he'd meet me with a little boat
and he'd put the stuff in.
430
00:24:26,006 --> 00:24:27,006
[whistles]
431
00:24:27,048 --> 00:24:28,049
Outta there.
432
00:24:29,801 --> 00:24:31,136
I go over by the Keys.
433
00:24:31,678 --> 00:24:34,473
I saw people, they transported it
and put it in trucks.
434
00:24:34,556 --> 00:24:35,390
[whistles]
435
00:24:35,474 --> 00:24:36,892
They bring it over to Miami.
436
00:24:39,352 --> 00:24:41,897
[Rosello] '81,
Willy and Sal were already big.
437
00:24:41,980 --> 00:24:44,065
[tense music playing]
438
00:24:44,149 --> 00:24:47,777
Justo Jay was the one
that took care of the loads that came in.
439
00:24:47,861 --> 00:24:52,199
He took care of the stash houses.
He used to take care of everything.
440
00:24:55,243 --> 00:24:58,914
He's like, "I'm gonna pick you up,
I want you to help me do something there."
441
00:24:58,997 --> 00:25:00,749
I get in the car. We get to the house.
442
00:25:00,832 --> 00:25:03,210
He's like, "I need you
to help me count some money."
443
00:25:03,293 --> 00:25:05,337
He takes the money out of the safe,
444
00:25:05,879 --> 00:25:09,508
tells me how to count money
and how to keep ledgers.
445
00:25:10,258 --> 00:25:13,345
There was times where we counted
up to five million dollars
446
00:25:14,304 --> 00:25:15,555
twice a week.
447
00:25:15,639 --> 00:25:17,390
And I was 15 years old.
448
00:25:18,642 --> 00:25:23,146
If the counting machine would break,
like five or six hours.
449
00:25:23,230 --> 00:25:26,274
And the next day, my thumbs
would be swollen from counting.
450
00:25:26,358 --> 00:25:27,901
[mimics paper ruffling]
451
00:25:27,984 --> 00:25:31,238
Growing up, you see your parents
going through hard times,
452
00:25:31,321 --> 00:25:33,949
and then you're in a room
with three or four million dollars,
453
00:25:34,032 --> 00:25:36,785
I mean, how are you gonna
say no to that, you know?
454
00:25:38,036 --> 00:25:41,122
[Jefede] Everyone at that time
had a friend or a friend of a friend
455
00:25:41,206 --> 00:25:44,084
who was in the drug business
seeming to get rich overnight.
456
00:25:44,584 --> 00:25:47,420
A lot of these kids,
they're first-generation immigrants.
457
00:25:47,504 --> 00:25:50,507
They thought this was their path
to the American dream.
458
00:25:51,132 --> 00:25:54,219
If you would've told us we were criminal,
we would have laughed.
459
00:25:54,302 --> 00:25:56,930
We're 20-year-old kids!
We're just having fun.
460
00:25:57,013 --> 00:25:58,723
[engine starts]
461
00:25:59,474 --> 00:26:02,602
[announcer] And there he is,
Justo Jay, Willy Falcon,
462
00:26:02,686 --> 00:26:05,355
doing a fine job in the Seahawk V-Bottom.
463
00:26:06,773 --> 00:26:08,775
[dramatic '80s music playing]
464
00:26:10,026 --> 00:26:13,822
I'm very much responsible
for them getting involved in racing.
465
00:26:14,614 --> 00:26:16,324
I started racing boats.
466
00:26:16,950 --> 00:26:20,412
One day, Willy came over,
he saw all the fun we were having.
467
00:26:20,495 --> 00:26:24,291
And he goes, "Hey, can we do this?"
And we started a company.
468
00:26:28,253 --> 00:26:30,964
[Rosello] Willy and Sal bought
a boat company, Seahawk.
469
00:26:34,092 --> 00:26:36,136
[young Linero]
It's the hottest thing around.
470
00:26:36,219 --> 00:26:37,637
[reporter] It seems to be.
471
00:26:38,138 --> 00:26:41,683
It was appealing to drug smugglers,
'cause it's an expensive sport.
472
00:26:41,766 --> 00:26:43,476
[DeFede] Who else could afford it?
473
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,521
The toys are more expensive,
but they're toys, right?
474
00:26:46,605 --> 00:26:48,690
[Rosello] You do, say, nine races a year.
475
00:26:48,773 --> 00:26:51,860
One race could cost you a million dollars.
476
00:26:51,943 --> 00:26:55,280
If you're a drug dealer,
why would you wanna race boats?
477
00:26:55,363 --> 00:26:57,490
How the hell you gonna justify
478
00:26:57,574 --> 00:27:00,660
spending a million dollars racing boats
and you don't have a job?
479
00:27:00,744 --> 00:27:04,914
[Linero] Sal got a boat,
and they went and they got another boat.
480
00:27:04,998 --> 00:27:09,377
And forget about everybody else,
the race was between Willy and Sal
481
00:27:09,461 --> 00:27:11,463
in different boats. That was the race.
482
00:27:11,546 --> 00:27:14,799
[announcer] There you see it,
Seahawk Two makes a move on Seahawk One.
483
00:27:14,883 --> 00:27:17,719
Willy Falcon makes a bid
for the lead over Sal Magluta
484
00:27:17,802 --> 00:27:19,679
and Sal answers the challenge.
485
00:27:20,221 --> 00:27:22,849
[Rosello] And they had Taby, Recut,
486
00:27:23,683 --> 00:27:26,061
Jay, and Ralph Linero.
487
00:27:26,936 --> 00:27:29,147
They call him cabeza
because he's got a big head.
488
00:27:29,230 --> 00:27:32,609
The racing helmet, it had to be
custom made 'cause none of them fit.
489
00:27:33,109 --> 00:27:35,236
Sometimes when we finish a race,
490
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,407
we got a couple of planes coming
in about a day with 400 keys.
491
00:27:40,033 --> 00:27:44,204
[DeFede] Willy won one national title,
Sal was a three-time champion.
492
00:27:44,287 --> 00:27:46,164
[Barroso] We won the world championship.
493
00:27:46,706 --> 00:27:48,875
Man, that was
the best feeling you ever had.
494
00:27:49,542 --> 00:27:52,587
[announcer] There's your winner
in the Open Class National Champions
495
00:27:52,671 --> 00:27:55,340
two years in a row,
a nd in modified class before that.
496
00:27:56,007 --> 00:27:57,175
[DeFede] At one point,
497
00:27:57,258 --> 00:28:00,512
two-thirds of the champions
of the powerboat racing circuit
498
00:28:00,595 --> 00:28:04,641
were also all either soon-to-be
or had just been convicted drug smugglers.
499
00:28:04,724 --> 00:28:07,435
Certainly, when you finish racing,
win, lose, or draw,
500
00:28:07,519 --> 00:28:10,522
you come home to a beautiful family,
so you can't really lose.
501
00:28:10,605 --> 00:28:11,605
No way.
502
00:28:12,148 --> 00:28:14,401
[Spanish disco music playing]
503
00:28:14,484 --> 00:28:18,113
[Linero] It was the family business.
I know that these guys will do
504
00:28:18,196 --> 00:28:21,574
whatever they could for me,
and I would do whatever I could for them.
505
00:28:28,665 --> 00:28:30,834
[Rosello] Willy's wife,
Alina, had three sisters.
506
00:28:30,917 --> 00:28:33,378
Sal's wife, Isabelita, had three sisters.
507
00:28:33,461 --> 00:28:36,715
Their husbands or boyfriends worked
for the company or had a connection.
508
00:28:36,798 --> 00:28:41,553
My daughter, Rachel,
is married to Sal's nephew.
509
00:28:41,636 --> 00:28:42,512
We're very close.
510
00:28:42,595 --> 00:28:46,015
[reporter] Sal Magluta. A man who has more
to smile about than just his race boat.
511
00:28:46,099 --> 00:28:47,308
Who do we have here today?
512
00:28:47,392 --> 00:28:49,394
[Sal] I have my oldest son, Chris,
513
00:28:49,477 --> 00:28:52,731
my little twins,
Michael and Michelle, a boy and a girl.
514
00:28:52,814 --> 00:28:54,023
[reporter hesitates]
515
00:28:55,066 --> 00:28:58,069
- And don't forget.
- Oh, and the wife here, Isabel.
516
00:28:59,904 --> 00:29:04,075
[Rosello] My little sister used to keep
the books for Taby. She was 14 years old.
517
00:29:04,159 --> 00:29:07,412
I mean, it was something
that was kept very into the family.
518
00:29:07,495 --> 00:29:08,747
No outsiders.
519
00:29:08,830 --> 00:29:09,830
Bye!
520
00:29:09,873 --> 00:29:10,707
Bye!
521
00:29:10,790 --> 00:29:12,792
[speaks Spanish]
522
00:29:13,793 --> 00:29:15,795
Bye! Bye!
523
00:29:15,879 --> 00:29:18,465
[Rosello] We were a close family,
we did everything together.
524
00:29:18,548 --> 00:29:19,548
I mean, everything.
525
00:29:19,591 --> 00:29:22,010
We used to go to Vail twice,
three times a year.
526
00:29:22,093 --> 00:29:26,639
I mean, my family, my sister.
I mean, we never had to pay for anything.
527
00:29:26,723 --> 00:29:28,850
[children singing "Jingle Bells"]
528
00:29:35,315 --> 00:29:37,442
[DeFede] Willy and Sal,
what set them apart,
529
00:29:37,525 --> 00:29:39,903
was that they really did view
this as a business.
530
00:29:39,986 --> 00:29:42,655
[Rosello] We referred
to the organization as "the company."
531
00:29:42,739 --> 00:29:44,407
It was run like any other business.
532
00:29:44,491 --> 00:29:48,244
You're not running a drug empire.
You're running a legitimate corporation.
533
00:29:48,328 --> 00:29:50,371
And one of the products is cocaine.
534
00:29:50,455 --> 00:29:53,416
We're nothing more than
the Kennedys of the 21st century.
535
00:29:53,500 --> 00:29:58,421
Basically, it's a Fortune 500 company
run by a bunch of muchachos.
536
00:29:58,505 --> 00:29:59,672
[salsa music playing]
537
00:29:59,756 --> 00:30:01,674
[DeFede] It was like "Muchachos Inc."
538
00:30:01,758 --> 00:30:04,677
Ralph Linero
was vice president of air operations.
539
00:30:05,178 --> 00:30:07,806
Juan Barroso
was the vice president of boats.
540
00:30:08,306 --> 00:30:10,809
Justo Jay, a V.P. of distribution.
541
00:30:11,643 --> 00:30:15,146
Willy's brother, Taby,
was like an executive vice president.
542
00:30:15,855 --> 00:30:18,733
And Willy and Sal, they were the CEOs.
543
00:30:20,068 --> 00:30:22,362
Willy was more of a schmoozer.
544
00:30:22,445 --> 00:30:24,364
He was the one who would work the edges
545
00:30:24,447 --> 00:30:26,407
and the personalities,
made the connections.
546
00:30:26,491 --> 00:30:27,951
Then Sal would come in
547
00:30:28,034 --> 00:30:30,620
and actually negotiate
the finer points of business.
548
00:30:31,412 --> 00:30:35,542
That's the way Sal wanted it.
He wanted the focus always to be on Willy.
549
00:30:35,625 --> 00:30:38,795
In case something happened,
Willy would go down and he wouldn't.
550
00:30:39,879 --> 00:30:42,882
[Rosello] Sal was taught
numbers and the business.
551
00:30:42,966 --> 00:30:44,968
[Linero] Sal was an accounting wizard.
552
00:30:45,593 --> 00:30:48,763
[DeFede] He's making sure payments
are being made on a regular basis,
553
00:30:48,847 --> 00:30:52,350
that the organization kept moving,
kept running, kept operating.
554
00:30:52,433 --> 00:30:54,018
That was Sal's responsibility.
555
00:30:54,102 --> 00:30:55,645
That's why they worked.
556
00:30:55,728 --> 00:30:58,356
You need an enforcer
and you need a good guy.
557
00:30:59,566 --> 00:31:01,234
Sal would use La Finquita,
558
00:31:01,317 --> 00:31:04,153
the farm in Miami,
as the corporate headquarters.
559
00:31:04,779 --> 00:31:06,364
[Linero] Sal had a tiger there.
560
00:31:06,447 --> 00:31:10,952
We had a room full of short-wave radios
to communicate with Colombia.
561
00:31:12,078 --> 00:31:16,249
[Rosello] Every six months, he would have
everybody gathered there, all the clients.
562
00:31:17,709 --> 00:31:21,045
I used to keep a daily ledger
of the money and the coke.
563
00:31:21,838 --> 00:31:24,966
Everybody would be waiting there
in the living room watching TV,
564
00:31:25,049 --> 00:31:27,051
talking, taking hits, whatever.
565
00:31:27,552 --> 00:31:30,972
[Linero] There was no board table.
It was done with sweatsuits on.
566
00:31:31,764 --> 00:31:34,058
[Rosello] They would call you one by one.
567
00:31:34,142 --> 00:31:36,936
You walk in, you sit down in front of Sal.
568
00:31:37,020 --> 00:31:38,313
He's behind the desk.
569
00:31:38,396 --> 00:31:40,899
They had la silla caliente, the hot chair.
570
00:31:41,399 --> 00:31:44,235
'Cause once you sit there,
the truth has to come out.
571
00:31:44,319 --> 00:31:45,612
You can't fuck around.
572
00:31:45,695 --> 00:31:47,280
Sal had the books, the ledgers,
573
00:31:47,363 --> 00:31:49,866
and he'll let you know
how much money you owe
574
00:31:49,949 --> 00:31:52,577
and the merchandise
that you've taken and all that.
575
00:31:54,245 --> 00:31:57,248
Sal and his books.
He ran it like a legit business.
576
00:31:59,042 --> 00:32:01,544
[reporter] You guys are making it
sound like a Sunday drive.
577
00:32:01,628 --> 00:32:03,004
Oh, yes, it was nice.
578
00:32:03,087 --> 00:32:05,632
[DeFede] The hardest thing
about being a drug dealer in Miami
579
00:32:05,715 --> 00:32:08,384
in the '70s and early '80s
was what to do with the money.
580
00:32:09,093 --> 00:32:11,804
I had ten million dollars in a big...
581
00:32:12,513 --> 00:32:14,974
Like a U-Haul box inside the closet.
582
00:32:15,892 --> 00:32:19,938
My mom told this friend from the family,
"I wanna clean Pegy's room."
583
00:32:20,021 --> 00:32:22,982
"There's this big box I need to move.
I need you to help me."
584
00:32:23,066 --> 00:32:26,194
They open the closet, both of them
are pulling and tugging on the box.
585
00:32:26,277 --> 00:32:28,071
The box breaks, all this money falls.
586
00:32:28,154 --> 00:32:31,282
My mom sees that.
Boom, she's fainted on the floor.
587
00:32:31,366 --> 00:32:34,327
"What the hell is this?
There's all this money in your closet."
588
00:32:34,410 --> 00:32:37,246
"Your mom just fainted.
We were trying to move the box."
589
00:32:37,997 --> 00:32:39,749
[DeFede]
The money was the biggest problem.
590
00:32:39,832 --> 00:32:42,919
You can only box it up
and keep it in your basement for so long.
591
00:32:43,002 --> 00:32:46,631
Falcon and Magluta had purchased
a great number of properties
592
00:32:46,714 --> 00:32:50,009
and had used their fathers,
their respective fathers,
593
00:32:50,093 --> 00:32:53,012
to act as presidents
of construction companies
594
00:32:53,096 --> 00:32:56,432
that built apartment buildings
in the Miami area.
595
00:32:56,975 --> 00:33:00,561
[Rosello] They used to live in mansions,
vacation homes, and Vail.
596
00:33:00,645 --> 00:33:04,023
Sal had an apartment in Brickell Key,
we used to call it Scarface.
597
00:33:04,107 --> 00:33:06,901
We would go out and party
and Sal gave us an extra key.
598
00:33:06,985 --> 00:33:10,613
After clubbing and stuff,
we would go and hang out at Scarface.
599
00:33:10,697 --> 00:33:13,533
[Spanish disco music playing]
600
00:33:16,494 --> 00:33:21,082
They will go out to party at a club
or whatever to spend 20, 30 grand a night.
601
00:33:21,165 --> 00:33:23,001
That was like, nothing.
602
00:33:23,084 --> 00:33:26,129
Willy and Sal, they used to party
at The Mutiny all the time.
603
00:33:26,212 --> 00:33:29,048
[Bonachea] If you were anybody,
you'd be at The Mutiny.
604
00:33:29,132 --> 00:33:31,342
That's where every drug dealer went.
605
00:33:31,426 --> 00:33:34,220
[Linero] I would describe
The Mutiny as the Wall Street
606
00:33:34,303 --> 00:33:36,723
of cocaine business in the '80s.
607
00:33:37,348 --> 00:33:38,933
That's where everything happened.
608
00:33:39,017 --> 00:33:40,518
It was not my thing.
609
00:33:40,601 --> 00:33:43,104
Too many fools.
Cocaine on the fucking tables
610
00:33:43,187 --> 00:33:45,523
with the women all around.
What are you, crazy?
611
00:33:46,024 --> 00:33:49,610
[Linero] We had a way
to let other organizations know
612
00:33:49,694 --> 00:33:51,237
that we had material.
613
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,742
We would get a Burger King hat.
We would put it on the table.
614
00:33:55,825 --> 00:34:01,372
That was a sign to everybody
in the club that, "Hey, we got material."
615
00:34:02,248 --> 00:34:03,248
"Let's talk."
616
00:34:03,708 --> 00:34:06,252
I went looking for Willy
to get me my money.
617
00:34:06,878 --> 00:34:10,798
And they had a party at The Mutiny.
They were celebrating Cabeza's birthday.
618
00:34:10,882 --> 00:34:15,053
And I found Willy, Sal, and Jay
619
00:34:15,136 --> 00:34:18,765
stoned out of their minds
in a room at the hotel.
620
00:34:18,848 --> 00:34:21,768
And there was three girls
in the bed, naked.
621
00:34:22,602 --> 00:34:27,023
So I said, "The girls or the money?"
So I jumped right in.
622
00:34:27,857 --> 00:34:30,443
[Rosello] Willy and Sal were married,
but you have money,
623
00:34:30,526 --> 00:34:32,487
you wanna go out, party with your friends.
624
00:34:32,570 --> 00:34:35,490
You think your wife...
She could get mad for a day or two.
625
00:34:35,573 --> 00:34:38,117
You get home,
you give her 30, 40, 50 grand
626
00:34:38,201 --> 00:34:41,788
and you tell her, "Go shopping."
She's not gonna be mad at you anymore.
627
00:34:42,789 --> 00:34:44,540
[Linero] If they had a boat race,
628
00:34:44,624 --> 00:34:47,460
I would fly
either the mistress or the wife
629
00:34:47,543 --> 00:34:51,798
and then the mistress would go
on another plane in another hotel.
630
00:34:51,881 --> 00:34:54,133
It was a comedy of errors sometimes.
631
00:34:54,801 --> 00:34:58,054
[Rosello] Outside his marriage,
Willy had kids with this girl.
632
00:34:58,137 --> 00:34:59,138
They had twins.
633
00:34:59,806 --> 00:35:03,351
"Here's $50,000 to go shopping."
I guess that probably cost Willy
634
00:35:03,434 --> 00:35:05,603
probably a million. [chuckles]
635
00:35:05,686 --> 00:35:07,814
[DeFede] These two guys
were running the place.
636
00:35:07,897 --> 00:35:10,024
Everywhere you went, it was Willy and Sal.
637
00:35:10,108 --> 00:35:12,527
[Rosello] If you didn't know
Willy and Sal personally,
638
00:35:12,610 --> 00:35:15,822
you knew someone
that knew someone that knew Willy and Sal.
639
00:35:16,489 --> 00:35:19,575
All of Miami considered them local heroes
640
00:35:19,659 --> 00:35:21,828
because they were like Robin Hoods.
641
00:35:21,911 --> 00:35:23,704
They always shared their wealth.
642
00:35:24,247 --> 00:35:27,458
[Rosello] Miami High, the basketball gym
needed a new scoreboard.
643
00:35:27,542 --> 00:35:30,670
So Willy and Sal donated the money.
It was 20 grand.
644
00:35:30,753 --> 00:35:35,758
I mean, you go to them, "I need 30 grand,
40 grand to put my kid through college."
645
00:35:36,551 --> 00:35:38,261
"What do you need, 30? Here's 50."
646
00:35:38,344 --> 00:35:39,720
They helped everybody.
647
00:35:39,804 --> 00:35:41,806
[gentle ethereal music playing]
648
00:35:44,392 --> 00:35:46,894
[Bonachea] I hadn't seen Sal since 1979.
649
00:35:48,688 --> 00:35:51,607
Sal called me, he said,
"I wanna see you tonight."
650
00:35:52,316 --> 00:35:55,820
He says, "Do you remember what car
I was driving when we last were together?"
651
00:35:55,903 --> 00:35:58,573
I said, "Yeah, you were driving
a blue Challenger."
652
00:35:58,656 --> 00:36:01,993
And he says, "Okay. Watch what
I'm gonna pick you up in."
653
00:36:02,076 --> 00:36:04,996
He came and he picked me up
and he's in a Rolls-Royce.
654
00:36:07,498 --> 00:36:09,125
We were out in the Rolls
655
00:36:09,208 --> 00:36:10,877
and we were going through...
656
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,297
You know Coconut Grove
has a bad neighborhood on one side?
657
00:36:15,256 --> 00:36:18,676
And Sal goes, "You see all these people?
I support them."
658
00:36:19,802 --> 00:36:22,221
"They get all their drugs from me."
I said, "Great."
659
00:36:22,305 --> 00:36:24,557
Then right behind us, I see sirens.
660
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,309
And I go, "Oh, man."
661
00:36:26,392 --> 00:36:28,728
I think he had
a couple of keys in the back.
662
00:36:28,811 --> 00:36:30,229
And... [laughs]
663
00:36:30,313 --> 00:36:32,773
So I go, "Okay.
We're all going to jail today."
664
00:36:33,816 --> 00:36:36,194
There were two cops.
They come out of the car.
665
00:36:36,944 --> 00:36:38,779
They looked at Sal and never said,
666
00:36:38,863 --> 00:36:41,407
"Can I have your driver's license?"
or anything.
667
00:36:41,490 --> 00:36:42,742
They knew who he was.
668
00:36:43,367 --> 00:36:47,705
Sal says, "Look, we'll do a trade.
You take the keys and you let me go."
669
00:36:48,372 --> 00:36:50,166
And the cops turn around and said,
670
00:36:51,334 --> 00:36:53,085
"It was nice running into you."
671
00:36:53,169 --> 00:36:55,046
Took the two keys and took off.
672
00:36:55,129 --> 00:36:58,507
And that was the end of that
and I was like... [gasps]
673
00:36:58,591 --> 00:37:00,092
[laughs]
674
00:37:00,176 --> 00:37:03,721
[DeFede] In a lot of ways, Willy and Sal,
in their world, in their community...
675
00:37:03,804 --> 00:37:07,058
More popular than Gloria Estefan
and Miami Sound Machine.
676
00:37:07,141 --> 00:37:09,393
♪ Come on, shake your body, baby
Do that conga ♪
677
00:37:10,144 --> 00:37:12,897
[DeFede] They were the kings
of cocaine in South Florida.
678
00:37:13,522 --> 00:37:16,943
[Posada] They were grossing
20, 30 million every month.
679
00:37:18,486 --> 00:37:22,281
I told Willy, "You already have
over 100 million dollars.
680
00:37:22,949 --> 00:37:24,158
Why don't you quit?"
681
00:37:25,076 --> 00:37:27,870
And he said, "Until I get to a billion,
682
00:37:28,913 --> 00:37:30,122
I'm not gonna quit."
683
00:37:34,418 --> 00:37:39,048
The Miami area has the highest
murder rate per capita in the country.
684
00:37:39,131 --> 00:37:41,634
[reporter 1] The rate
of killing here is accelerating,
685
00:37:41,717 --> 00:37:43,719
the efficient work of the Cocaine Cowboys.
686
00:37:43,803 --> 00:37:47,765
[reporter 2] Local homicide detectives say
Miami's in the middle of a narcotics war
687
00:37:47,848 --> 00:37:49,976
between Colombian and Cuban drug dealers.
688
00:37:50,059 --> 00:37:52,186
[grenade launcher firing]
689
00:37:52,270 --> 00:37:54,272
[tires squealing]
690
00:37:54,772 --> 00:37:57,692
[DeFede] The violence, the shootings,
the police were totally overwhelmed
691
00:37:57,775 --> 00:38:01,529
and so they focused their limited
resources on the violent drug dealers.
692
00:38:01,612 --> 00:38:05,574
The ones who were embarrassing them
because of headlines in the newspapers.
693
00:38:06,075 --> 00:38:07,827
But not Willy and Sal.
694
00:38:09,453 --> 00:38:13,291
[Clark] Falcon and Magluta, they weren't
necessarily on the radar screen.
695
00:38:13,374 --> 00:38:16,043
They were the nonviolent drug dealers.
696
00:38:16,127 --> 00:38:19,088
[Linero] If I would say,
"Hey, I lost a load."
697
00:38:19,171 --> 00:38:22,550
I wouldn't be in fear of say,
"Hey, I don't want to get killed."
698
00:38:22,633 --> 00:38:24,885
My word was just good enough for them.
699
00:38:24,969 --> 00:38:28,431
[DeFede] It wasn't about retaliation.
It was about taking care of business.
700
00:38:28,514 --> 00:38:31,934
Violence attracts more attention to you.
That's not what they wanted.
701
00:38:33,185 --> 00:38:37,315
You're in the drug business and when
you're that big, of course it's dangerous.
702
00:38:37,398 --> 00:38:39,942
Kind of a stressful lifestyle, but...
703
00:38:41,277 --> 00:38:44,655
The sport itself isn't dangerous
as long as you're well-prepared,
704
00:38:44,739 --> 00:38:47,450
you got a good crew,
and they're all working together.
705
00:38:47,533 --> 00:38:48,576
Uh...
706
00:38:48,659 --> 00:38:50,661
You... I don't see any danger in it.
707
00:38:54,373 --> 00:38:56,834
[reporter 1] A federal task force
is helping Florida
708
00:38:56,917 --> 00:39:00,963
reduce the drug tide, now estimated
at seven billion dollars a year.
709
00:39:01,047 --> 00:39:03,090
[reporter 2] Cocaine seizures are up.
710
00:39:03,174 --> 00:39:06,218
12,000 pounds of coke seized in 1983,
711
00:39:06,302 --> 00:39:09,263
compared with 44,000 pounds
of coke taken last year.
712
00:39:09,347 --> 00:39:11,724
Drugs weren't coming in like they used to.
713
00:39:11,807 --> 00:39:14,101
[reporter 2] The efforts by
the Drug Task Force
714
00:39:14,185 --> 00:39:16,228
has officials
in other parts of the country
715
00:39:16,312 --> 00:39:19,273
saying now they have increased
problems with drug smugglers
716
00:39:19,357 --> 00:39:22,234
moving marijuana and cocaine
through other places.
717
00:39:22,318 --> 00:39:23,736
Places away from Miami.
718
00:39:23,819 --> 00:39:27,490
That put a stop
on the operation, and then it was,
719
00:39:27,573 --> 00:39:29,492
"We gotta go back to plan B."
720
00:39:30,910 --> 00:39:32,912
Plan B was to move to California.
721
00:39:32,995 --> 00:39:34,997
[rhythmic '80s music plays]
722
00:39:35,122 --> 00:39:38,167
[Rosello] In '85,
Willy and Sal, they left to L.A.
723
00:39:38,834 --> 00:39:41,045
[Clark] They set up shop
in Marina del Rey,
724
00:39:41,128 --> 00:39:43,255
an affluent suburb of Los Angeles.
725
00:39:43,339 --> 00:39:46,926
Willy's like, "Stay in L.A., count money,
start working for the company,
726
00:39:47,009 --> 00:39:48,302
I'll pay you $5,000 a week."
727
00:39:48,386 --> 00:39:51,931
California was the equivalent
of Miami at that time.
728
00:39:52,014 --> 00:39:55,184
Drugs were being transported
across the southwestern border.
729
00:39:56,894 --> 00:39:59,271
[Rosello] The difference
between East and West Coast,
730
00:39:59,355 --> 00:40:02,525
East, you bring it up
by plane and speedboats.
731
00:40:03,025 --> 00:40:04,860
West Coast, tractor trailers.
732
00:40:09,782 --> 00:40:15,663
I think that once everything started
in L.A. in '85, things got out of control.
733
00:40:15,746 --> 00:40:20,626
They were bringing in anywhere
from three to five thousand keys
734
00:40:20,709 --> 00:40:21,877
on a monthly basis.
735
00:40:23,170 --> 00:40:25,714
[Clark] Because of
their high-living lifestyle,
736
00:40:25,798 --> 00:40:28,551
this drew the attention of bystanders
737
00:40:28,634 --> 00:40:31,220
and information was related to
738
00:40:31,303 --> 00:40:34,306
the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department, Narcotics Squad.
739
00:40:38,018 --> 00:40:40,396
They executed a raid and discovered
740
00:40:40,479 --> 00:40:43,524
a treasure trove
of incriminating evidence.
741
00:40:43,607 --> 00:40:46,652
Large amount of cash,
three kilograms of cocaine,
742
00:40:46,735 --> 00:40:48,737
fake identification.
743
00:40:48,821 --> 00:40:51,699
And based upon that bust,
Falcon and Magluta,
744
00:40:51,782 --> 00:40:53,409
under their assumed identities,
745
00:40:53,492 --> 00:40:56,203
were arrested again
on state trafficking charges.
746
00:40:58,497 --> 00:41:01,542
They were issued bond
under their fake names.
747
00:41:01,625 --> 00:41:04,420
Law enforcement wasn't really in tune
with how to capture
748
00:41:04,503 --> 00:41:05,754
and go after these guys.
749
00:41:05,838 --> 00:41:06,922
They'd get arrested.
750
00:41:07,006 --> 00:41:09,383
You just change your ID,
get new driver's licenses,
751
00:41:09,467 --> 00:41:10,467
you skip bail.
752
00:41:10,509 --> 00:41:12,553
And that's what they ended up doing.
753
00:41:12,636 --> 00:41:15,181
Once you make bond in L.A., they're gone.
754
00:41:15,264 --> 00:41:16,432
They're back in Miami.
755
00:41:16,515 --> 00:41:18,517
[salsa music playing]
756
00:41:20,853 --> 00:41:24,398
[Clark] The Los Angeles Sheriff
happened to be watching ESPN,
757
00:41:24,482 --> 00:41:27,401
which was broadcasting a powerboat race
758
00:41:27,485 --> 00:41:30,571
and there, lo and behold, was Sal Magluta,
759
00:41:30,654 --> 00:41:35,367
aka, Angelo Maretto, being interviewed
having won a powerboat race.
760
00:41:35,451 --> 00:41:37,828
Sal Magluta,
last year's national champion,
761
00:41:37,912 --> 00:41:40,164
very close to being
last year's world champion.
762
00:41:40,247 --> 00:41:43,459
[DeFede] "That's not Sal Magluta.
That's Angelo Maretto!
763
00:41:43,542 --> 00:41:44,542
I know that guy!"
764
00:41:45,127 --> 00:41:48,214
The sheriff was floored by this news
765
00:41:48,297 --> 00:41:50,925
that the fugitive
from the state of California,
766
00:41:51,008 --> 00:41:54,178
that he was searching for,
wound up in Florida.
767
00:41:54,261 --> 00:41:56,388
[DeFede] This was the guy who got away
768
00:41:56,472 --> 00:41:58,307
and yet here he is on ESPN
769
00:41:58,390 --> 00:42:01,310
for the whole world to see
just living large.
770
00:42:01,393 --> 00:42:02,603
Are you crazy?
771
00:42:02,686 --> 00:42:05,397
Aren't you ever satisfied?
You got a brand-new boat.
772
00:42:05,481 --> 00:42:08,400
No, every year,
everybody comes out with faster things,
773
00:42:08,484 --> 00:42:10,319
so you have to try to stay up there.
774
00:42:14,323 --> 00:42:18,911
[Clark] In 1979, Falcon and Magluta had
already been charged and convicted
775
00:42:18,994 --> 00:42:22,373
in the state of Florida
in the Operation Video Canary case.
776
00:42:23,165 --> 00:42:26,919
When, in 1987,
the board rejected various appeals,
777
00:42:27,002 --> 00:42:30,881
they were expected to surrender
to serve their 14-month sentence.
778
00:42:30,965 --> 00:42:32,633
That, he did not.
779
00:42:32,716 --> 00:42:35,427
They were now wanted
in the state of Florida.
780
00:42:36,679 --> 00:42:39,890
[DeFede] Prosecutors,
DEA, state, local cops,
781
00:42:39,974 --> 00:42:42,184
all wanted to know
where Willy and Sal were.
782
00:42:43,852 --> 00:42:46,397
But by 1987, they stopped racing boats.
783
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:50,276
They moved out of their houses
and rented new places under fake names.
784
00:42:50,985 --> 00:42:52,820
They were still smuggling cocaine,
785
00:42:52,903 --> 00:42:55,489
but they were trying
to keep a low profile.
786
00:42:57,366 --> 00:43:01,620
[Clark] Because they had continued
to traffic in drugs throughout the 1980s,
787
00:43:01,704 --> 00:43:04,873
pretty much unabated
for well over ten years,
788
00:43:04,957 --> 00:43:08,377
they acquired this legendary status
within the drug trade.
789
00:43:09,211 --> 00:43:10,838
[DeFede] This was the holy grail
790
00:43:10,921 --> 00:43:13,465
for any cop trying
to bring down a dope ring.
791
00:43:13,549 --> 00:43:15,175
[man] March 30, 1988...
792
00:43:17,678 --> 00:43:19,972
myself and my partner, Jorge Plasencia,
793
00:43:20,598 --> 00:43:24,184
we go to Dolphin Office Supply
on Southwest 27th Avenue.
794
00:43:25,394 --> 00:43:26,937
I'm shopping. I'm looking.
795
00:43:27,646 --> 00:43:28,856
And the next thing I know,
796
00:43:28,939 --> 00:43:31,483
I feel Jorge Plasencia
tugging at my shirt.
797
00:43:32,401 --> 00:43:33,235
And he goes...
798
00:43:33,319 --> 00:43:36,155
[whispers] "That's Sal.
That's Sal Magluta."
799
00:43:36,655 --> 00:43:38,949
Sal is in a store, buying some ledgers.
800
00:43:39,700 --> 00:43:42,077
He's a fugitive,
and who does he happen to run into,
801
00:43:42,161 --> 00:43:44,955
but a guy he went to high school with
who's a Miami detective.
802
00:43:45,039 --> 00:43:47,041
They went to school together
at Miami High.
803
00:43:47,124 --> 00:43:50,836
We knew that Sal was wanted. In fact,
we had his last known booking photo
804
00:43:50,919 --> 00:43:52,338
in our visor in the car.
805
00:43:53,505 --> 00:43:54,965
He's a big fish.
806
00:43:55,049 --> 00:43:56,800
It's a big one. [laughs]
807
00:43:58,677 --> 00:44:02,222
He walked outside, I drew my gun,
and I put it behind his head,
808
00:44:02,306 --> 00:44:05,184
and I said, "Sal, don't move.
You're under arrest."
809
00:44:06,644 --> 00:44:10,606
He goes, "I'm sorry. I don't know what
you're talking about. That's not my name."
810
00:44:12,066 --> 00:44:16,195
Sal tries to play dumb like, "Oh, no.
That's not me, I'm somebody else."
811
00:44:16,695 --> 00:44:19,948
Sure enough, he's got a driver's license
with somebody else's name,
812
00:44:20,032 --> 00:44:21,158
Santiago Menendez.
813
00:44:21,659 --> 00:44:24,370
I look at him and I go,
"Sal, look over there."
814
00:44:25,162 --> 00:44:28,207
And across the other side
of the car was Jorge Plasencia.
815
00:44:28,290 --> 00:44:31,877
I go, "My partner went
to high school with you, Sal."
816
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,673
"I know it's you, Sal! Sal, we went to
high school together! I know it's you!"
817
00:44:35,756 --> 00:44:38,300
We put him in the car.
I said, "Sal, it's not a problem,
818
00:44:38,384 --> 00:44:39,760
we'll have you fingerprinted."
819
00:44:39,843 --> 00:44:41,512
He didn't even break a sweat.
820
00:44:41,595 --> 00:44:44,598
He said, "You're making a mistake.
I'm sure we can clear this up."
821
00:44:44,682 --> 00:44:46,600
He's talking like a businessman.
822
00:44:46,684 --> 00:44:49,853
[announcer] It's drama on the high seas
with the Seahawk racing team.
823
00:44:49,937 --> 00:44:52,439
They had it going so well
up to that point.
824
00:44:53,107 --> 00:44:54,942
So halfway to the police department,
825
00:44:55,025 --> 00:44:56,025
he goes, "Okay."
826
00:44:56,610 --> 00:44:57,610
"It's me."
827
00:44:58,070 --> 00:45:00,280
"You got me. Let's make a deal.
828
00:45:00,364 --> 00:45:02,408
I can take you, right now, to a house
829
00:45:02,491 --> 00:45:06,537
that has 1,000 kilograms of cocaine.
That's like a ton.
830
00:45:07,329 --> 00:45:08,622
You can have it.
831
00:45:08,706 --> 00:45:10,124
Just let me go."
832
00:45:10,207 --> 00:45:12,459
[announcer] This is
a very serious situation.
833
00:45:12,543 --> 00:45:16,714
I believe that boat is starting to sink.
They just pulled out their life raft.
834
00:45:16,797 --> 00:45:20,676
[Alvarez] The street level of that was
worth in excess of 25 million dollars.
835
00:45:20,759 --> 00:45:23,929
So he's offering me
a bribe of 25 million dollars.
836
00:45:24,638 --> 00:45:28,016
I said, "Sal, I'm sorry, I can't help you.
I appreciate the offer."
837
00:45:29,309 --> 00:45:30,309
He had no fear.
838
00:45:31,145 --> 00:45:34,606
He had no fear at all
of losing his liberty.
839
00:45:34,690 --> 00:45:36,942
I don't think I grasped that
840
00:45:37,818 --> 00:45:38,986
the way I should've.
841
00:45:40,612 --> 00:45:42,865
We walk him over to the jail. Process him.
842
00:45:43,907 --> 00:45:44,907
Put him in.
843
00:45:45,576 --> 00:45:48,495
Back in 1988,
nothing really was computerized.
844
00:45:48,579 --> 00:45:52,332
All the prisoner's names
were in 3x5 index cards.
845
00:45:52,416 --> 00:45:55,669
Almost like your grandmother
would have her recipes on.
846
00:45:55,753 --> 00:45:58,964
And they would put in there
whether they had bond or no bond.
847
00:45:59,047 --> 00:46:01,216
Sal's situation is he's got no bond.
848
00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:04,094
The only thing he needs to do
is serve his sentence,
849
00:46:04,178 --> 00:46:06,388
so he's not getting bond.
850
00:46:06,472 --> 00:46:07,931
He needs to serve his time.
851
00:46:08,849 --> 00:46:10,976
We put no bond and we left.
852
00:46:13,187 --> 00:46:14,688
And we think
853
00:46:15,731 --> 00:46:17,107
this is the end of Sal.
854
00:46:20,903 --> 00:46:24,448
A few days later, we go back
to get him to try to cooperate.
855
00:46:24,531 --> 00:46:28,076
We go to the front desk, we said,
"Bring down Salvador Magluta."
856
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:29,870
They look through the index card.
857
00:46:31,455 --> 00:46:33,624
"We don't have anybody here by that name."
858
00:46:35,042 --> 00:46:36,042
"I don't understand."
859
00:46:36,084 --> 00:46:39,129
"We brought him here Friday.
He's got no bond.
860
00:46:39,213 --> 00:46:41,173
He's going to prison. Where is he?"
861
00:46:41,256 --> 00:46:42,758
He said, "He's not here."
862
00:46:43,509 --> 00:46:48,430
I said, "What do you mean he's not here?
Find him. He's here. We brought him here."
863
00:46:49,389 --> 00:46:51,558
He was let out the day before.
864
00:46:51,642 --> 00:46:54,394
I go, "He couldn't have been.
He couldn't have been!
865
00:46:55,229 --> 00:46:56,480
He's got no bond."
866
00:46:57,189 --> 00:46:58,941
And then they find the card.
867
00:46:59,441 --> 00:47:01,610
Time served and was released.
868
00:47:03,153 --> 00:47:05,781
I go, "He couldn't have served his time.
869
00:47:05,864 --> 00:47:09,076
He was a fugitive.
He needs to go to prison."
870
00:47:09,827 --> 00:47:12,746
[DeFede] Somehow,
the paperwork at the county jail,
871
00:47:12,830 --> 00:47:14,498
well, something happened
872
00:47:14,581 --> 00:47:18,418
and instead of it showing that
Sal owed them 14 months,
873
00:47:18,502 --> 00:47:20,671
it showed he'd
already served his 14 months.
874
00:47:20,754 --> 00:47:23,590
So they pat him on the back
and walk him out the front door.
875
00:47:24,716 --> 00:47:25,716
That's Miami.
876
00:47:25,759 --> 00:47:27,761
[salsa music playing]
877
00:47:29,596 --> 00:47:32,516
Sal called me and he says,
"You know where I am?"
878
00:47:32,599 --> 00:47:34,309
I said, "Yeah, in jail."
879
00:47:34,393 --> 00:47:36,270
He says, "No, I'm on the street."
880
00:47:37,980 --> 00:47:40,732
[Alvarez] We blew a gasket.
It just so happens,
881
00:47:40,816 --> 00:47:43,485
the mistake was made
to one of the most prolific
882
00:47:43,569 --> 00:47:45,362
drug traffickers in US history.
883
00:47:45,445 --> 00:47:46,864
What's the chances of that?
884
00:47:46,947 --> 00:47:50,951
To operate a company that big,
you have to pay people off.
885
00:47:51,034 --> 00:47:52,870
They had a lot of people on payroll.
886
00:47:53,912 --> 00:47:55,706
[Bonachea] I said, "How'd you get out?"
887
00:47:55,789 --> 00:47:58,750
He says, "I did a favor for somebody
that works at the jail."
888
00:47:58,834 --> 00:48:00,669
They decided to return the favor
889
00:48:00,752 --> 00:48:03,297
and falsify his papers,
so he could walk out.
890
00:48:04,715 --> 00:48:07,676
[Clark] Again, for the third time,
Sal Magluta is in the wind,
891
00:48:07,759 --> 00:48:08,844
no longer in custody
892
00:48:08,927 --> 00:48:11,805
when authorities had the opportunity
to keep him in custody.
893
00:48:12,639 --> 00:48:15,100
Every time they got busted,
they bounce back.
894
00:48:15,183 --> 00:48:18,478
And then they bounce back,
and then they bounce back!
895
00:48:19,021 --> 00:48:22,357
[announcer] Okay, the Seahawk Racing team,
that's Sal Magluta.
896
00:48:22,441 --> 00:48:24,276
That team is having some problems.
897
00:48:24,359 --> 00:48:26,862
But Sal appears
that he doesn't wanna stop.
898
00:48:28,697 --> 00:48:30,699
[salsa music playing]
78507
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